Physical Education instructor Tammi Matula has been exploring new and interesting ways to deliver quality instruction to her students since taking over the role in 2013. She approached the bank with the idea of making rock climbing available to younger students, citing the sport’s physical and emotional benefits. She was rewarded with a generous grant that enabled her to move forward with the program.
The bank’s contribution provided youth-sized harnesses, enabling even the smallest students to safely climb the artificial rock wall located in East Grand’s gymnasium.
Outdoor Education teacher Dave Conley and Matula supervised the adventure, assisted by students from Conley’s Outdoor Education class. Older students had the opportunity to act as mentors, helping the younger children properly adjust their harnesses and encouraging them as they took their first tentative steps up the climbing wall.
The students gained confidence after just one rock climbing session. Alexis Rose is a pre-K student, and she approached the prospect of rock climbing with trepidation. Matula explained, “She was quick to inform me on our way to P.E. that she was ‘afraid of highers’. However, Alexis was first from her class on the wall and then exclaimed with excitement, ‘I’m not afraid of highers anymore!’ That was what we all worked on to varying degrees.”
Rock climbing is just one part of the school’s strategy to incorporate the outdoors into all facets of the educational experience.
